Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Message: Please give a copy of this letter to Mr. Kenneth Feinberg and Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick. Thank you. To: Kenneth Feinberg Date: 12/06/2001 December 6, 2001 Please deliver or forward to Mr. Kenneth Feinberg. Re: Victim Compensation Fund Dear Mr. Feinberg, I watched with great interest, your interview with Gwen Ifill on The News Hour last night. The key word that kept coming up during the course of your discussion was "discretion." For the reasons enumerated below, I want to urge you to be inclusive of life partners, be they homosexual, heterosexual, or transgender, as well as de facto children, as you develop disbursement guidelines for the victim's compensation fund. 1. When you mentioned that there were decisions that would be left to your discretion, I began to ponder how many discretionary decisions are made that affect the daily lives of Gay and Lesbian* Americans. Because we do not have equal rights afforded to us by the federal government and most state and local, any rights to speak of often hinge on the discretion of what we hope will be fair-minded people in the judicial and legislative systems. We frequently wait with baited breath for decisions to be handed down by the courts on whether we can adopt, if we can receive a deceased partners benefits, or on the very status of our relationship. It is always our burden to prove our commitment to each other, whereas most heterosexual people can easily marry or elect to become de facto husband and wife through co-domicile, often recognized as a marriage in many states. Of course, the legislative side of winning approval of our relationship and attendant rights is one wrought with risks due to supportive legislative fear of losing the next election for their stance on Gay rights. I won't even visit the citizen referendums that went around the country in the 90's, which attempted to retract local and state laws that recognized Gay relationships. Until just recently, the military routinely undertook witch-hunts at their discretion, in an effort to boot homosexuals from the armed services even with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in effect. Conveniently, some of that has been relaxed because more bodies are needed for the war effort. It is fortunate for all Gays and Lesbians who choose to serve their country with honor and dignity, do so regardless of the fact that their country abandons their rights and personal dignities. Unfortunately for Gay and Lesbian Americans, it is not left to our discretion as to whether we pay our taxes. We work and fit seamlessly into society, yet we do not receive many of the benefits due to our status, or lack thereof, as Gay and Lesbians. We are diminished both in personal relationships and financially. In the workplace, we frequently cannot obtain health benefits for our partners, and if we can it is a taxable benefit to the employee. Yet there are people who say they shouldn't have to pay for Gays' benefits, yet we pay for theirs in innumerable ways. 2. I know that this administration has not been an endorser of Gay relationships, but if we remove the context of "Gay" and put surviving partner of a relationship as a party who had financial interdependence to the deceased, then I strongly argue that the government should include that partner (and children if this applies) in the victim compensation fund. This is purely from a fair and equitable standpoint. Since September 11th, President Bush has delivered the message numerous times that we treat each other with dignity and respect in America, regardless of our perceived differences. This is his administration's stance, and thus your opportunity to set an example for that message. 3. It is easy to review through the eyes of history, how the rights of disenfranchised groups have been left to the discretion of a few individuals, sometimes with horrific consequences. This is a brilliant opportunity for you to use your discretion to help not just some of the people with personal relationships to the victims, but all of those who lost someone that they deeply loved in these national tragedies. * For brevity, this includes Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Bisexual people. Sincerely, Individual Comment Denver, CO Cc: Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-06 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA001421.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-06